Tom Tancredo: “I, too, want to rise in, in a way, admiration of the committee for their work on this particular piece of legislation…”

“I, too, want to rise in, in a way, admiration of the committee for their work on this particular piece of legislation, on this bill. It is truly commendable in a situation where profligate spending in this body is the norm, it is commendable to have a bill coming here that is only 1.5 percent above last year's spending and only 1.7 percent above the President's request. There is no particular program in the bill with which I rise to take issue. I do wish, however, to just briefly discuss a point of concern that I have with the general tenor of our agricultural support payments. It is the fact that welfare, whether it is provided for able-bodied individuals or large corporate farmers, has a corrupting influence on both. The welfare farm subsidies keep land prices high, makes it harder for small farmers to enter into the market. Farm subsidies decrease the incentive for efficiency, which would greatly benefit the agricultural sector. This is a list, by States, I have a list here from CBO of those States that receive a percentage of their net farm income as a result of government payments. It is quite astounding. In 1999, the State of Illinois had 112 percent of its net farm income a government check; Indiana, 93 percent; North Dakota, 93 percent; Iowa, 87 percent; Missouri, 78 percent; Montana, 77. At least 12 States have government checks representing more than 50 percent of their net farm income.”